David Harewood at Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London (photo courtesy of Andrea Southam)

David Harewood isn’t an actor who is easily typecast. Known for his role as CIA director David Estes in the award-winning Showtime drama series Homeland, he has also made his mark in feature films (e.g., Blood Diamond), television comedy (ABC’s Selfie), and on stage. Harewood’s acclaimed performance as Othello at London’s National Theatre, where he was the first black actor to assume that role, brought him further recognition in his field. Now Harewood has joined forces with five other actors noted for their roles in Shakespeare’s iconic plays, to host PBS’s Shakespeare Uncovered, Series 2. I recently caught up with Harewood for my podcast Whine At 9 to discuss this special project.

Shakespeare Uncovered, Series 2 is a six-episode special, featuring six plays of William Shakespeare. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) and King Lear with Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music) to The Taming of the Shrew with Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption), Antony and Cleopatra with Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City), Romeo and Juliet with Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love), and Othello with Harewood, the series captures the essence and nuances of Shakespeare in a fascinating, investigative fashion.

Harewood knows more Shakespeare than most, but admits that even professional actors are “daunted by Shakespeare on the first day of rehearsal”. However, he notes that the work that can initially feel intimidating, opens up a new world of creativity, once you understand the background of the playwright and his project. Explains Harewood, “As an actor that’s played the role–and I thought I knew the play [Othello] very well–there were many things that I discovered on the journey that even I didn’t know about the play.”

“What we try and do with the show is, we have a presenter who basically takes us through the narrative of the play and deconstructs the ideas and explains the reasons why characters do things. We just examine the play in a very kind of forensic and natural way. It’s actually very illuminating because we speak to scholars, we speak to various professionals, we speak to other actors who’ve played the role–been in different productions. And what you get is a very distilled version of the entire play, but in just one hour.” Working with the series has made Harewood eager to revisit all of the plays. “You watch these plays; you think you know them. But, because you’re coming at them from so many different angles, there are so many scholars and experts, you’re getting all these different views. It’s shining a new light on the stories.”

David Harewood is thrilled that Shakespeare Uncovered has made people want to revisit these important plays. “I find these programs very inspiring,” says Harewood, who plans to watch Morgan Freeman’s episode again soon. “It’s so wonderful to hear [Freeman] talk anyway, but [the episodes are] just wonderful joyous programs to sit and watch,” notes Harewood.

The actor, who can brilliantly shift from comedy to tragedy, believes that it is the variability of his roles that keeps him professionally content. “I like to almost disappear into these different characters… it wouldn’t really interest me to be playing the same type of role all of the time.” Says Harewood, “To me it’s a process of continuing to evolve and continuing to surprise… I would hope never to lose that.” I suspect Shakespeare would approve.